Hey everybody!! I am in the beginning stages of starting a lawn care service and can use all the help a girl can get! I am an Army wife and while my husband was deployed this past year for 13 months all the household duties were on me...including all the yard work. I started out being overwhelmed and frustrated and eventually gave up and called a lawn care service to come do the 2 acres for me! After carefully watching the guy I was paying 40 bucks every two weeks come out and do my yard in 30min tops.....I realized if I had his equipment I could do the same thing! So I went out got a riding lawnmower and learned how to use the edger and weed whacker...and after a month or two of trial and error my yard was one of the BEST in our neighborhood. Not to mention that I fell in love with being in the yard and it was the best stress relief during deployment. I am now taking the new love to the next level and starting my own lawn care service...any advice...pro's...con's...tip's anyone could give would me much appreciated!!

XOXOXOXO
Tianna

Steve

12-28-2008, 02:21 PM

Great job Tianna!

What are you gonna call your business? How will you be marketing it?

What about Army Wife Lawn Care? That might give you an in with many potential customers. I love your story and that story could help you sell!

lawnsalonforyou

12-28-2008, 06:07 PM

Great job Tianna!

What are you gonna call your business? How will you be marketing it?

What about Army Wife Lawn Care? That might give you an in with many potential customers. I love your story and that story could help you sell!

Hey Steve Thanks a bunch! My business name is "Lawn Salon" and my motto is "Giving your neighbors one more thing to be jealous of!" What do you think?

As far as marketing...I've got so many ideas my head is spinning at this point! lol We just moved to a new state (phenix city al) and I don't know anyone. But we live in a brand new subdivision that is still under construction...there are also 3 other subdivisions within a mile from my home. They are all less than a year old and I'm thinking that may give me a chance to be the first one there offering them service. So I'm going to start with these 3 neighborhoods and give out flyers...do some door hangers and offer a bonus "something" (haven't quite figured out what the something is yet" if they sign up for a 12 week service with me. Also I am going to talk to the contractor that is building this neighborhood and offer my services for yard maintenance on all the unsold houses that are going to be here this spring and summer.

Problem is I have no clue how to charge for something like that...BUT I am reading and researching everything I can get my hands on! This site has been the most help...I really couldn't even begin to think of how all this would come together without all the resources I found on gopherforum.com!

Steve

12-28-2008, 08:56 PM

Did you check out the lawn care business calculators (http://lawnchat.com/?page_id=341) I put together? They should give you an idea of what you need to charge based on your costs. Plus you know how much you were paying for lawn care service so that should help too.

I like your business name. Good for you! Get some flyers made and hand them out. Get your business cards out to everyone you meet as well. In fact, you should consider sending an article to the local paper about your story and how you are starting your own business, that might get them to contact you and write an article about you.

You could offer a prepay discount of 5 or 10% if they pay for the entire season in advance. That's an idea. Or offer a free aeration if they sign up for a yearly contract. You might not even have to give anything away. Keep us posted on how everything goes and if you get any jobs you can't figure out how to bid.